Activists in Israel to Protest the Ukraine's Animal Cruelty

Demonstrators plan to protest outside the Ukrainian Embassy in Tel Aviv against the Ukraine's burning and killing of stray animals.

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Elad Benari, 10/10/11 08:25

Ukraine cleans up is streets

Israel news photo: PR

About 200 demonstrators will hold a protest outside the Ukrainian Embassy in Tel Aviv on Monday.

The demonstrators, who will be dressed up as soccer judges, will be wearing black shirts and will be equipped with whistles and red cards.

The purpose of the demonstration is to publicize and protest the Ukrainian government’s mass killing of animals as it prepares to host the Euro 2012.

According to the activists, Ukrainian authorities have launched a vigorous campaign in the streets of the city of Kharkov, which will host the Euro 2012, to cleanse the streets of stray animals, especially dogs and cats. They are claiming that for the past several months mobile incinerators have been used to clean up the streets of these stray animals.

The protestors said they will light candles in mourning for those animals that have already been killed as part of the mass killing.

They said they have appealed to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Environment Minister Gilad Erdan on the matter. According to activists, Erdan said he was shocked at the behavior of the Ukrainian authorities and said he intends to promptly contact the Ukrainian Embassy in Israel as well as his Ukrainian counterpart, in an attempt to stop the massacre. MK Eitan Cabel (Labor), who chairs the Knesset’s animal lobby, has also promised to take action.

The activists are also saying that some animals have been killed by poisonous injections that paralyze their respiratory muscles. European animal protection organizations have already launched a broad campaign against this killing of animals, including a global petition which has already been signed by more than 300,000 people.

In addition, an Israeli Facebook group that was opened last Thursday and which calls to boycott the Euro 2012 games in the Ukraine has already amassed over 600 members.

“As a soccer fan I was astonished to discover last week that the government in Ukraine decided to kill in preparation for potential visitors like me masses of dogs and cats using particularly cruel methods,” Ronen Bar of the Anonymous Association said on Sunday. “It is unheard of that under the excuse of a sporting event, animals will be captured street by street and burned alive. UEFA cannot stand aside and it must intervene on behalf of soccer fans who are uninterested in this “clean-up” that is being done for them.”

Bar added that UEFA has already called on the Ukrainian government to stop this animal cruelty, but has been unsuccessful so far. UEFA explained that they never demanded that the Ukraine remove animals from the streets, but added that they have no way of intervening in the actions of Ukrainian authorities and have no plans to take practical steps against the ongoing massacre.

When China hosted the Olympics in 2008, thousands were forcibly moved from their homes to allow for renovations and building stadiums. China's practice of taking organs for transplants from helpless prisoners was also known, but neither of these offenses received world notice.